Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Board Briefs from Oct. 23, 2017 Business Meeting

This document includes highlights of information received by the Ladue Schools Board of Education at the Oct. 23, 2017 Business Meeting.  This is an unofficial record.  Official minutes of each Board meeting are posted on the district website and are available for viewing at the Administrative Center after the Board approves them, typically two weeks after the meeting.


Excellence in Education Award
Patricia Chavez
Art Teacher, Ladue Horton Watkins High School

National Merit Semifinalists
Abhay Cashikar, Justin Chen, Levi Dyson, Macey Goldstein, Lily Hauptman, Joel Hsieh, Evyn Levy, Sophia Li, Albert Liu, Annie Liu, Charles Loitman, Ryan Miller, Glen Morgenstern, Anthony Schuster, Aleesha Shi, Aaron Umen, Audrey Wang, Julia Wang, Edward Wu, Eric Yang and Xiwen Zhang.

Board President's Remarks
  • Board President Andy Bresler congratulated Patricia Chavez on receiving the Excellence in Education Award and the 21 students who are 2017 National Merit Semifinalists, noting what a joy it is to be able to celebrate such outstanding accomplishments in our district.
Superintendent Remarks
  • Superintendent Dr. Donna Jahnke also congratulated Ms. Chavez, noting that through her dedication to sharing fine arts with her students, as well as her personal passion for the visual arts, she embodies the district’s goal to nurture the “whole child.”  
  • Dr. Jahnke noted that over 500 people attended the open house at Ladue Horton Watkins High School last Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in order to tour the renovated areas of the building and the portions under construction.  A great mix of alumni, students, community members and staff attended, reflecting the excitement in the community for this project.  She also thanked the Ladue Education Foundation for being at the open house and sharing their information and enthusiasm about this project with attendees.
ACTION ITEM
Superintendent Evaluation Process. Mr. Bresler presented, and the Board approved, the new process for superintendent evaluations, noting that the evaluation tool and additional information about the procedures to be used are available on BoardDocs. This process was derived by a subcommittee of the Board and the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources.

High School Building Project: Project Report #19; Contractor Payment Requests. Project Director for S. M. Wilson, Kort Cole, presented Construction Progress Report #19, which includes the September pay application and updates on the work completed, the construction timeline and the project budget. Photos of various components of the project are included in the linked document.  

At this time, anticipated savings identified on the project as originally defined are anticipated to be approximately $4.76 million, which is not inclusive of the $1.79 million construction contingency in the construction budget for unidentified or unforeseen expenses incurred during the remainder of the project.

INFORMATION ITEMS

Ladue Education Foundation Report. Dr. Jahnke introduced Ladue Education Foundation (LEF) and Alumni Association President Julie Schuster and Executive Director Kristen Wild, who provided the Board with an update on current accomplishments and recent activities of the LEF, including the incorporation of the Alumni Association, the Capital Campaign for the high school renovation, and grant allocations.  

Enrollment and Residency Report. Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, Ken Rossics presented the annual Enrollment and Residency Report.  As of this year’s official state Count Day, the district had total enrollment of 4,227 students, an increase of about 100 resident students from the year before.  Due to the significant resident student increase, projections now suggest slightly increasing resident enrollment in the next few years.

English as a Second Language (ESL)  Program Coordinator Lou Galloway-Zapiain shared information about the increase in the number of students being served by the ESL program.  Additional details are available by clicking on the heading of this section.

MAP Data and Report. Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction Dr. Jennifer Allen presented the district’s Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) results.  Overall district results are noted below and other detail is available by clicking on the heading of this section. Comparative information with other districts will not be released to the public until Nov. 15, 2017.
  • The Ladue School District earned a perfect score in Academic Achievement, meeting the 2020 target in all four content areas.  
  • Subgroup Achievement is measured separately with each student counted once, although they may represent multiple subgroups.  The district earned additional progress points, but has not yet met the 2020 targets for Subgroup Achievement.
  • The district met the 2020 target for all College and Career Readiness (CCR) Indicators.
  • The district met the 2020 target for Attendance with 91.1% of students attending 90% (or more) of the time.
  • The district met the 2020 target for Graduation Rate with a four-year graduation rate of 98.3%.
  • The Ladue School District earned 138.5 of 140 points (98.9%) for the Annual Performance Report, the exact percentage as 2016.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The next Board of Education meeting will be a Work Session on Nov. 14, 2017, at the Administrative Center, 9703 Conway Road at 6 p.m..  The following meeting will be a Business Meeting at 6 p.m. on Nov. 27, 2017, at the Administrative Center.  Tentative agenda items include the following.

Tentative Agenda Items for Work Session Nov. 14, 2017:

INFORMATION
  • Principals Share School Improvements
  • Board Objectives
  • High School Campus Renovation
Tentative Agenda Items for Business Meeting Nov. 27, 2017:

ACTION
  • SSD Reimbursement of ECSE Costs
  • Public Hearing and Approval of 2019-2020 School Calendar
  • Acceptance of Auditor’s Report
  • High School Building Project
    • Project Report #20
    • Contractor Payment Requests
INFORMATION

  • 2018-2019 High School and Middle School Course Change Proposals
  • 2017-2018 Revised Budget
  • 2018-2019 LECC Tuition and BASK/TAS Rates
  • Board Policy Changes